Roberto Mancini had little reason for cheer after his Inter side produced a laboured display in Saturday's 0-0 draw with Empoli

Inter coach Roberto Mancini slammed his team's "useless" build-up play in the 0-0 draw at Empoli.

The Milan club's stuttering season appeared to have turned a corner after they earned a point at champions Juventus, before beating Genoa 3-1 in their previous Serie A outing.

But they were toothless against struggling Empoli on Saturday and rarely looked capable of claiming all three points.

Mancini pulled no punches after the match, telling Sky Sport Italia: "At times we just held the ball without going anywhere and that's useless. The strikers need to move around more and create openings.

"Empoli have always run hard and played good football. Not all of our players are in the best shape, so we still struggle in terms of intensity.

"Everyone needs to do more. It's not one or two players, but starting from the back, having the courage to take risks and play the ball. We are Inter - struggling under pressure from opponents is not our style.

"We didn't create much, sat too deep and were scared in the beginning. We didn't play from the back and that's why we were under pressure, as we didn't keep the ball."

Mancini, though, has urged patience as he attempts to turn Inter's fortunes around.

"I think a team needs time to grow," he added. "It's not like one win changes everything.

"The victory [over Genoa] was important and it would've been good to get three points here to help move towards third, but we knew it would be difficult as Empoli play great football. We didn't do enough to win.

"The important thing is to get a series of positive results. We have regrets, but the truth is we didn't do enough to win this game."